Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
RFC 1583 - 9.5. Sending Hello packets

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### 9.5. Sending Hello packets

Hello packets are sent out each functioning router interface. They are used to discover and maintain neighbor relationships.[6] On multi-access networks, Hello Packets are also used to elect the Designated Router and Backup Designated Router, and in that way determine what adjacencies should be formed.

The format of an Hello packet is detailed in Section A.3.2. The Hello Packet contains the router's Router Priority (used in choosing the Designated Router), and the interval between Hello Packets sent out the interface (HelloInterval). The Hello Packet also indicates how often a neighbor must be heard from to remain active (RouterDeadInterval). Both HelloInterval and RouterDeadInterval must be the same for all routers attached to a common network. The Hello packet also contains the IP address mask of the attached network (Network Mask). On unnumbered point-to-point networks and on virtual links this field should be set to 0.0.0.0.

The Hello packet's Options field describes the router's optional OSPF capabilities. There are currently two optional capabilities defined (see Sections 4.5 and A.2). The T-bit of the Options field should be set if the router is capable of calculating separate routes for each IP TOS. The E-bit should be set if and only if the attached area is capable of processing AS external advertisements (i.e., it is not a stub area). If the E-bit is set incorrectly the neighboring routers will refuse to accept the Hello Packet (see Section 10.5). The rest of the Hello Packet's Options field should be set to zero.

In order to ensure two-way communication between adjacent routers, the Hello packet contains the list of all routers from which Hello Packets have been seen recently. The Hello packet also contains the router's current choice for Designated Router and Backup Designated Router. A value of 0.0.0.0 in these fields means that one has not yet been selected.

On broadcast networks and physical point-to-point networks, Hello packets are sent every HelloInterval seconds to the IP multicast address AllSPFRouters. On virtual links, Hello packets are sent as unicasts (addressed directly to the other end of the virtual link) every HelloInterval seconds. On non- broadcast networks, the sending of Hello packets is more complicated. This will be covered in the next section.

9.5.1. Sending Hello packets on non-broadcast networks

Next: 9.5.1. Sending Hello packets on non-broadcast networks

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RFC 1583 - 9.5. Sending Hello packets